The Genius of Renaissance Art

(Above: Garden of Earthly Delights, right panel; below, Fetus in the Womb. Click painting for a larger view)

In the south, Leonardo da Vinci in particular emerged as a gifted genius, who dramatically affected the world with his prodigious art and his curiosity about the way things work. Leonardo (1452 - 1519) was a true "Renaissance Man," in every sense of the word. One work of Leonardo, most commonly referred to as the Fetus in the Womb, is particularly telling of his inquisitive brilliance, and the contributions he made to society. Interestingly, he is probably more famous as a painter, especially for his painting of Mona Lisa. But in fact, he finished few paintings and kept a huge collection of notebooks where he recorded his drawings and notes of his studies and ideas (Kleiner 583). Leonardo was fascinated by the human body, and kept at least 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which fuse art and the precursor to modern science, "natural philosophy" (Kemp). In this drawing, not only is his skill as an artist apparent, but it crosses over into his skill as a scientist and student of life. Because he was considered a successful artist, and knowledge of human anatomy was very important at that time in Italy, Leonardo had access to human cadavers at several hospitals and was given permission to dissect these cadavers (Kemp). One aspect of the human body he was interested in was the mystery of human creation. Study Fetus in the Womb, and his meticulous attention to detail is very apparent. He has scribbled copious notes around the figure, and is apparently working out ideas of how the reproductive system works with smaller sketches around the main one. In Leonardo's words,

"[t]his work must commence with the conception of man, and must describe the nature of the womb, and how a baby lives in it, and in what degree it resides there, and the way it is enlivened and nourished, and its growth, and what interval there will be between one degree of growth and the next, and what it is which pushes it out of the mother and for what reason it sometimes comes out of its mother's womb before due time" (Kemp).

During the same time far to the north, in the Netherlands, Heironymus Bosch (ca. 1450 - 1516) was dazzling his world with dramatically different visions and his mysterious imagination. Very little is known about Bosch, which makes his art even more compelling. It is not even clear when he was actually born; his birth date is approximated based on the appearance of a painting assumed to be a self-portrait done toward the end of his life (Smith). One of his most famous and most compelling works is Garden of Earthly Delights, a three-part painting on hinged wooden panels that close to reveal another painting, of the world during creation. Unlike the true-to-life detail of Fetus in the Womb, the Garden is wild and surreal, with scenes and stories that possibly tell of the dilemmas of sin vs. morality. There is much debate over Bosch's intent amongst scholars, but he appears to have in the least a great imagination, and probably a sense of humor. On the outside or backside of the painting, the world, painted only in greens and grays, is thought to be a depiction of the third day of creation; a small figure of God appears at the top left corner. God appears to have the weight of the world on his mind; already he seems to know that the humans will sin. Inside, the painting is spectacular, colorful, and surreal. It appears intended to be viewed from left to right, starting with Adam meeting Eve on the left panel, an event or scene full of sin and immorality in the middle panel, and demons torturing sinners in hell in the right panel.
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